If you’re thinking about a new custom home, chances are fairly good that you’ll be including at least one fireplace. But what type of fireplace do you have in mind? Here are a few basic ideas to get you started. Fireplace Idea #1: Simple and Elegant Gas...
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Building a home for retirement isn’t just about the bells and whistles. Clients want an energy-efficient, accessible home that’s easy to maintain. In this article: Retiring in style: 3 custom homes that redefine retirement living by Susan Bady, Contributing Editor HousingZone.com, we find that people who build one-of-a-kind...
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Does your home repair to-do list seem to be taking over your life? Jeff Wilson, host of Buildipedia’s At Home channel, sympathizes and offers sage advice for how to tame that ever-present “Honey-Do” list. Every aspiring handyman (or handywoman) has a List. Not the list you...
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The U.S. population is aging and many seniors want to continue living independently in their own homes. Creating a safe, livable environment to foster aging in place through universal design without the home screaming “this was made for old people” can be an easy task...
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Ever since the federal income tax was introduced in 1913, the government has used the tax code to encourage homeownership. Now, as a result of the effort to reduce the federal deficit, the mortgage interest deduction is under fire. Proposed changes to the tax code...
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As my friend Mac Pierce likes to point out: you could get a blindfolded drunk epileptic to cross Niagara Falls on a high wire without a net, but it wouldn’t be a good idea. There are some wall assemblies that are like that. One in...
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Getting ready to paint a wall? Don’t skip the prep work: A properly primed surface makes all the difference. Clean the walls Using a large cellulose sponge and a solution of water mixed with a few drops of mild dishwashing liquid, clean your walls to remove any...
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Loren Steffy’s story in the Houston Chronicle does a good job of describing how good mortgage laws in Texas helped Texas’ housing values hold up in the face of this country’s worst recession since the Great Depression. While many people in states like California, Florida, Nevada...
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Check out these great tools for your business from HousingZone.com iHandy Carpenter – iHandy Soft There are five tools in this carpenter tool kit: plumb bob, surface level, bubble level bar, steel protractor, and steel ruler. $1.99 Spacing Calc – By Laurie Davis Siding a wall, shingling a roof, laying...
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In an article on BuildingScience.com – Building Science Insights – Seeing Red Over Green Roofs – Joseph Lstiburek talks about how Building Green is a huge misnomer…and that it is a sensitive subject with many builders. “It is dumb to do a green roof to save...
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